


Lost on the Edge

by Chaoswolf12



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Other, Secret Solenoid, Secret Solenoid 2019, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, injuries with blood, mentione homelessness and eating animals to survive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:33:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22071832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaoswolf12/pseuds/Chaoswolf12
Summary: After a battle, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe get separated from the main group of Autobots and have to try and make their way back.
Relationships: Sideswipe/Sunstreaker, implied/background Jazz/Prowl
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	Lost on the Edge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fuzipenguin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzipenguin/gifts).



> This is my Secret Solenoid gift for Fuzipenguin ^_^ I hope you like it! I was torn between this and another prompt, but this one popped up in my head almost entirely worked out, so I went with this one.

Sunstreaker/Sideswipe- Lost on the Edge

The battle had been hard-fought, but the Autobots had managed to defend the boundaries of the city-state where they were resupplying and protect the neutrals until they could be evacuated. The Decepticon battalion attacking their supply lines had been stomped and sent running to regroup. As soon as the Cons turned taillights and ran, the Autobots had fallen back to the city walls.

Which was great, except that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were now stranded behind enemy lines.

As frontliners, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were often some of the first to hit the Cons in battle, and their ferocity and skill meant they often carved a path for their fellow Autobots through the enemy ranks. Sunstreaker plowed an energon soaked path through Cons with blaster and sword, while Sideswipe flowed along in his wake like a red shadow protecting his twin’s flank and dealing with any Con Sunny didn’t finish off. Autobots and Decepticons alike thought that Sunstreaker had berserker coding. The golden twin certainly appeared to, with his relentless forward attack and the way he shrugged off damage. Even his optics went bleached and hyper-focused, one of the tell-tale signs of a berserker. But Sideswipe knew better. Neither of them had berserker coding. Sunstreaker called it his ‘battle trance’- it was something he had learned to do in the gladiatorial pits. No one had ever made the connection that Sunstreaker only ever did it when Sideswipe was there to watch his back, their bond wide open, relaying info and warnings back and forth. Everyone failed to notice he was too controlled, never hitting an ally, and broke out of it naturally at the end of a battle rather than going and going until dropping from fatigue like a true berserker.

But in this particular battle their savagery and efficiency in dispatching the enemy meant that they were too far forward to fall back with the rest of the Autobots. With Decepticons regrouping all around them, and the safest way back blocked by Con patrols and the post-battle camps popping up, they were forced to hunker down and hide until some of the activity settled down.

Peeking over the top of the tumbled remains of a wall he and Sunstreaker were hiding behind, Sideswipe counted the Decepticons in the encampment between them and the rest of the Autobots. While it wasn’t a big camp, there were still too many for only the two of them to take on, especially with reinforcements nearby. Dropping back down, Sides turned to Sunstreaker.

_There’s too many. We won’t be able to go through_ , he sent to Sunny over their bond. _And we are too far out for our comms to reach without broadcasting loud enough for every Con in the area to pinpoint us. Same for any kind of distress signal. Should we see about going around_?

_Going around won’t be easy, if I remember the topography around here correctly. The planning map showed canyons to the southeast, and you can see the plateau to the west from here,_ Sunny replied, jerking his helm in the general direction. _They kinda parallel the canyons and have a steep cliff to get up there. The cliffs and the canyons create a choke point. It’s one of the reasons why we were able to push the Cons back, because the whole battalion couldn’t come at us at once and the air defenses of the city got their slag together for once and made short work of their fliers._

_Slag. Guess we’ll be practicing our sneaky skills, eh bro_?

Sunstreaker just rolled his optics.

They backed carefully away from the camp, using what cover they could find. There was plenty of boulders and craters in the ground and the ruined remains of a small town to utilize. Ever so slowly they made their way back north, having to stop frequently to avoid patrols and returning Decepticons.

It was slow going, caution and the increasing number of enemies gathering meant Sunny and Sides were often stuck in uncomfortable hiding spots to avoid detection for hours on end. On top of that, skirting the edge of all the activity forced the twins further and further east. Having a canyon at their back was only marginally better than having a cliff.

On the fourth day stuck behind Con lines, they came across the biggest encampment so far. Just beyond it they could see the fortifications and trenches of the front line. They were just about out of Decepticon occupied territory. Unfortunately, this area was apparently under the command of a competent Commander, because it was surprisingly organized and built up considering it was only a few days after the battle. All the able-bodied Cons had been put to work building defenses at the edge of the used-to-be town. Which meant there were far too many mechs and fortifications in front of them. What was worse, the plains beyond were disappointingly bare of cover. The twins would have to travel over way-too-many miles in plain view to reach the Autobot held city they could juuuuust make out in the distance. Primus, Sideswipe knew they had worked hard to push back the Decepticons, but he hadn’t realized they had pushed _that_ far!

Deciding to find a safe-ish spot to rest and recuperate until they could come up with a way to continue north, the twins found a mostly-intact building to hole up in. From there they kept an optic on the activity around them, taking turns on watch. It gave them the opportunity to bring out their med-kit to patch up what wounds their hasty post-battle fixes and self-repair hadn’t handled. Taking a chance, Sideswipe also pulled his emergency comms booster from subspace. Plugging into it, he hacked it and manually overrode its functions until he was able to send a subtle message out. Piggybacking on the Con’s own communications frequencies, the message would seem to just be a bit of background static, easily ignored. The fact the static just happened to be aimed at the Autobots, and more specifically Jazz, embedded with a repeating ping pattern from a secret code Jazz had devised and given to only a select few- well, even Soundwave hadn’t found nor broke that code yet so it was highly unlikely the communications operator for this outpost would. 

***

A week after the battle, and the third day stuck in their hidey-hole, Sunstreaker noticed a change. Leaning against the wall near a sizable hole that might once have been a window, out of sight from outside but close enough to look out through, he stood keeping a watch on the street below for activity. Lowering the energon cube he was drinking from, he tracked the fourth patrol to go by in less than an hour. Only this patrol wasn’t just plodding along the street, they were breaking off into pairs and beginning to search the intact buildings. Cursing softly, he sealed his energon and stuffed it in subspace, then turned to rouse Sideswipe. 

_They’re searching the buildings, we got to go_ , he said as soon as Sideswipe’s optics lit up.

Sideswipe nodded, rolling to his feet and grabbed his blaster. Their med-kit and the comms booster were stuffed back into subspace. Joining his brother at the door, they checked that the hallway to the stairs was still clear, then made their way out. Instead of taking the expected route to the ground floor, they headed up to the roof. Standing just inside the roof access door they did a thorough scan of the sky and surrounding rooflines making sure there were no flier patrols or snipers stationed at a vantage that could see them, before they headed out on to the roof. 

They had chosen this building because it sat particularly close to an adjacent building with a lower roofline, making it easy for them to jump across. Grounders never looked up, and no one expected non-fliers to head up rather than down. The twins had managed to escape quite a few close calls in their past by taking the literal high road.

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, they made their way east toward the edge of the town in this way. At least until they came to a road that was too wide to jump. Taking a corner each, they crept up to the roof ledge and looked down, optics sharp for any signs of patrols. Closest one Sides could see was still three streets away and turning a corner away out of sight, so Sideswipe tucked his blaster into subspace long enough to carefully lowered himself over the edge of the building and dropped the two stories down. He landed as softly as possible, blaster back out and ready, and took up a look out while Sunstreaker dropped down. Landing made and blaster also out, Sunstreaker nodded at Sideswipe to take point while he covered their rear. They continued east, creeping around buildings, always with an optic out for patrols.

Sideswipe peered around the corner of building they were using as cover. This was the last street in the town. Once they passed the buildings on the other side of it they would be running across clear ground, but out of the paths of all but the outer perimeter patrols who would be easier to avoid. All clear. He had just stepped out when Sunstreaker slammed into him, shoulder checking him and causing him to drop to one knee. A blaster shot shattered the wall above him, right where his head had been.

“Frag!” Sideswipe hissed, huddling against the building. He spotted the two Decepticons that had stepped out onto the street a few blocks down just a moment after he had, as Sunstreaker fired back at them. Two shots from Sunstreaker, and a pained cry announced that he had managed to hit one of the Cons. Seeing the other Con turn to look at his partner, Sideswipe fired a couple shots as well, making both Decepticons flinch back behind their own cover. Using the momentary distraction, Sunstreaker bolted for the other side of the street. He kept up suppressing fire from his new angle, keeping the Decepticons behind their cover. Sending a pulse along their bond, he signaled to Sideswipe to sprint over as well. The moment Sideswipe was at his side they both turned and ran.

Once past the last row of buildings, they dropped into alt mode and gunned it. The pot-marked and rubble strewn ground wasn’t the greatest to drive over with their low-slung alts, but it was still faster than running. Heading north, they raced along, until a Decepticon squad appeared in front of them, emerging from the behind the buildings firing at them. Sunny and Sides swerved and floored it, now headed east with the squad hot on their trail.

As they raced along, the twins tried to use the cover of any ridges, boulders, and large crystal growths to give them the opportunity to turn north while they were briefly out of sight of their pursuers, but every time they were herded back towards the east with well placed shots or some of the Cons fanning out to head them off.

_Ah slag, Sides, looks like the fragging Cons are herding us_ , Sunny sent over their bond the second time this happened. _They mean to trap us against the canyon ledge_. Sideswipe cursed in frustration.

When the vast drop came into view, they still hadn’t managed to shake the Cons. If anything, their pursuers had closed the gap some, alt modes better able to handle the terrain. Sideswipe put on a final bit of speed and swung behind a large rock formation just before the dropoff. He flipped into root mode and leaned out from behind the rocks to engage his shoulder rocket, shooting at the Cons while Sunstreaker caught up and joined him behind cover. The squad chasing them scattered as the rocket exploded in their midst. Unfortunately it only damaged a couple of them, and left the rest unscathed aside from a bit of scorching and shrapnel. However, Sideswipe could still hear roaring even after their pursuers had transformed to advance on foot and the explosion from the rocket had faded. Powerful engines roaring. Looking up he could see a trine of fliers, recovered enough from the battle to give chase, approaching quickly. _Frag._

Sideswipe left Sunstreaker shooting at the Cons for a moment, looking around for any way out. He jogged over to the edge and crouched down to look down into the canyon. The ravine was deep, so deep the bottom was obscured by the weird dangerous fog and eerie lights of Cybertron’s depths and internal workings, and the other side was far enough away to be hazy. _Double frag._

But then just for a moment the howling wind in the canyon shifted the fog, and Sideswipe could see a closer ledge far below them and a little to the north along this same wall. WAY too far to climb down to but maybe…

“Sideswipe, what are you doing? Get your aft over here and help me take out these Cons!” Sunstreaker yelled. Only one mech shooting, even with a blaster in each hand, was not doing much to keep the half dozen Decepticons from getting closer, and the fliers were almost within firing distance.

“Oh Sunny, you are not gonna like this,” Sideswipe muttered to himself, as he stood and jogged back to Sunstreaker’s side. He hooked a hand into Sunstreaker’s collar faring and began hauling him toward the ledge, ignoring his twin’s yelled questions and protests. Ducking under Sunstreaker’s arms, he stood face to face with Sunstreaker and grabbed him about his waist, locking his hands together behind him. Transforming out his usually-subspaced jetpack and activating it, Sideswipe grinned at his twin’s scowling face and told him “You might want to hold on Sunny.”

“What the- No! No Sides, we are not-!” Sunstreaker growled right before Sideswipe blasted the jetpack’s thrusters and sent them hurtling upwards and forward out over the canyon, angling north. Sunstreaker would deny forever the shriek he let out as they rocketed up, dropping his blasters into subspace to tightly wrap his arms around Sideswipe’s smug stupid head.

Unfortunately, as excellent a plan as this was to get away from the grounder troops chasing them, it didn’t factor in the trine rapidly approaching. They had barely cleared the dropoff when the Seekers came roaring in, raining lazerfire down on them. Sideswipe cursed and began to dive towards that ledge he saw in the fog, making loops and rolls to avoid the fire. Sunstreaker began cursing too, though his were aimed more at Sideswipe than the fliers. Sunny could handle jet judo any day, and skillfully ride out any maneuver a Seeker made to shake him off all while taking them apart with no problem- but hanging off his twin who was rocketing about with a jetpack just barely powerful enough to lift the two of them and flying like a drunk cyberbee? Nope.

Sideswipe was doing his best to evade the trine. The jetpack was more maneuverable than the Seekers, but a lot slower. On top of that, he was hampered by Sunstreaker’s weight and the worry of accidentally shaking his twin off with a too-violent maneuver. Inevitably a few shots hit. Luckily it was the jetpack and not either of them that took the hits. Unluckily this meant they were now less flying and more falling. The jetpack sparked and started trailing dark smoke, one thruster giving out completely.

“Frag!” Sideswipe shouted, desperately realigning their flight to help the one remaining thruster fight gravity. They still dropped at an alarming rate, descent barely slowing. To add to their trouble, this meant no more evasive tactics and the trine were swinging around for another strafing run. Their only hope now was to make it into the fog for cover, and hope they landed more- or- less intact. _That ledge better be where I think it is_ , Sideswipe thought desperately as they began to fall through the first wisps of fog, _or this will be the worst flight ever and Sunny will never forgive me_.

Lazerfire began to pierce through the mist around them, as the Seekers came back around. Sideswipe decided on a risky move and cut the throttle on the jetpack for just a moment, making them drop further into the fog before flaring it again. Sunstreaker shrieked again, arms and legs tightening around Sideswipe. Sideswipe opened the throttle again, jerking them out of freefall. Sunstreaker jolted from the sudden acceleration changes, slipping in his grasp. Gasping, Sideswipe managed to grab Sunstreaker under his arms, while his brother’s fingers clawed grooves into his shoulder armor as he frantically reached for a secure hold. Desperately, Sides looked through the fog for the ledge he saw, while the Seekers continued to fire into the shrouding fog around them.

There! It was below them, but they were still falling so fast. Sideswipe poured more power into the jetpack, trying to slow them just a little bit more. Sunstreaker slipped again slightly, optics wide as he looked up at Sideswipe. _Sunny, there’s a ledge right below us_ , Sideswipe sent on their bond just as a warning came up on his HUD, _but it’s going to be a hard landing because we’re falling faster than I planned and my jetpack is overheating from the damage_!

Sunstreaker dared a look over his shoulder, spark pounding, for the rapidly approaching ledge. Mist obscured it for a panicky moment, but a harsh wind cleared it just enough for him to make it out. Oh Primus they were dropping way too quickly!

The jetpack sputtered then flickered back on. They were just meters above the ledge when it sputtered again, finally guttering for good. Sideswipe twisted in the air in the last moments before they hit the ground to protect Sunstreaker and let the dead jetpack take the brunt of the impact. Hitting the ground hard, they lost their grip on each other. Sunstreaker flew out of Sideswipe’s arms, tucked as best he could and rolled to an aching stop near the cliff wall. Sideswipe skipped off the ground like a stone a few times, until one of the jetpacks wings caught a large rock and sent him spinning. His leg slammed into another rock, and he screamed as it was damaged.

Finally coming to a stop he whimpered, optics fritzing. Resetting them, he dazedly looked up into the fog. Once the world had stopped pixelating, Sideswipe disengaged from the scrapped jetpack, and slowly sat up. He looked first to see where Sunstreaker was. He sighed in relief to see his twin shakily standing up- dented and scraped but whole and relatively undamaged, then looked down at his leg to assess his own damage.

Energon blood seeped from a large gash on the side of his lower leg. The red plating there was torn and crushed from where the rock hit, dented inwards and cutting into the components underneath. It must be cutting off some of the neural lines because his ped felt partially numb. His knee joint ached since the wrenching force of the blow had twisted it some, but he was pretty sure it would still take his weight. Mainly he had to worry about that gash- the puddle of energon below his leg was getting bigger faster than he thought it should, meaning a fairly large line had been torn. He needed to find it and clamp it off fast.

Sunstreaker stumbled to his brother’s side and had just pulled out the first aid kit when Seeker engines sounded overhead, and more lazerfire lit up the fog. Warily watching the streaks of deadly light, Sunstreaker realized the Seekers were firing randomly if a little too close for comfort.

“Get started on patching up your leg, I have an idea to get them off our tailpipes,” Sunstreaker said quietly, handing Sideswipe the kit. He walked close to the edge and pulled a grenade from subspace. It was a Wheeljack special, what he called a Flashy-Smoke Bomb. It made a nice loud, bright disorientating thermo-flash, and let out tons of thick smoke. Great for blinding enemies and confusing them with the smoke so you could get away, but right now it would make a great fake explosive crash. Sunny pulled the pin and threw it as far out into the gorge as he could, where the lazerfire was coming down the thickest. Seconds later a loud bang sounded and a bright yellow flare of light lit up the fog. Thick black smoke billowed up moments later, darkening the fog more as it floated up. As soon as the smoke started to show above the fog-line the Seekers stopped firing and the sound of their thrusters faded away. Sunstreaker nodded in satisfaction and went back to Sideswipe.

Sideswipe had the torn energon line clamped off, and was busy trying to pull the edges of the gash out to ease the pressure off the components getting crushed when Sunstreaker knelt back at his side. Pulling a vibroblade out of subspace, Sunny slapped Sideswipe’s hands away, and set about cutting the wound’s edges free. Sideswipe gasped as the painful pressure on his strut and hydraulics suddenly eased, but his ped was still partially numb.

“Pits, one of my neural cables must have been cut. I can’t feel the outer half of my lower leg and ped,” Sideswipe informed his twin, as Sunstreaker continued to cut away bent plating then covered it with a patch of temporary plating with some magnetic bandages to keep it in place. Since Sunny had the bandaging taken care of, Sides turned to look at his unfortunate jetpack. He pulled the jetpack closer, inspecting it to see if it was worth salvaging. Aside from the blaster holes, bent wing, and being slightly crushed from the landing, it looked fairly intact. And it was always easier to have Wheeljack fix his jetpacks then to wait for the parts to make one from scratch. He made sure no fuel was leaking from it before stuffing it into its usual subspace slot on his back.

“Might be the loss of energon to your ped too,” Sunstreaker replied, finishing up the bandaging and putting the remaining away in the kit before subspacing it. “That line you had to clamp off is a pretty major one for your ped and cutting off the flow means your ped might start going gray if we can’t get you to a medic soon. And the kit doesn’t have any line patches left in it,” Sunny interrupted Sides as he opened his mouth, anticipating what he was about to ask, “But they wouldn’t work even if we had some because the line’s too mangled and high pressure for one to work on it.”

“Well that’s slag-tastic.”

“Come on. Let’s get you up and start heading north since you found this lovely alternate route for us.”

Sideswipe stuck his tongue out at Sunny for the sarcastic tone and admonishing bond-flick, even as he grabbed the hand Sunny offered and let his twin lever him up to standing. “It worked didn’t it?”

Sunstreaker just huffed and walked off, leaving Sideswipe to limp along behind him.

They traveled along the ledge cautiously. The winds down here were odd, alternating between heavy stillness for long stretches of time and then sudden fierce gusts which were almost enough to knock them off their pedes. Especially Sideswipe with his numb ped. The low visibility from the fog, and the possibility of a very long fall if they miss-stepped were further reasons to move slowly and carefully. Sunstreaker was just a yellow smear of color ahead of him when the fog was thickest. Sunstreaker sent frequent pings to Sideswipe, looking behind himself often for the red haze that was sometimes all he could see of his twin, despite being only their alt-mode length in front of him. They relied heavily on their sensors to keep them safe in the limited visibility.

Now that they were down here, the main worry was getting back up to the upper layer once they were close to the Autobots, and keeping out of any acid rain. Both the twins kept sensors out for any way up the canyon wall or caves for shelter. Being able to have a defensible shelter would also be nice in case they ran afoul of any mechanimals. There were not many species that had been able to survive the War and the energon shortage but the ones that had were all large, dangerous, and aggressive- mainly cyberwolves, turbofoxes, and coilvipers. And who knew what weird things still survived in the deeps with the drillerworms. Pits, the only small and relatively friendly things to have survived the ravages of the planet were the glitchmice, turborats, and petrorabbits. And even those little critters could still be deadly if you were too injured to fight them off or if a horde swarmed you, since they were happy to eat basically anything. It was almost as bad as running into a scraplet swarm, and could strip a frame nearly as fast too.

_Although_ , Sunstreaker pondered as they walked, _we might be hoping to run across a turborat nest before too long, if we can’t make it back quick enough_. Since they had already been away from base over a week now, their subspace stores of energon cubes were beginning to run out. Not knowing how long it would take to get back to the city-base, the twins had already been rationing what they had to make it last. They knew how to run on low fuel and make energon stretch out to the last drop. They also knew how to find fuel in ways that would make most mechs cringe.

Life had been hard in the gladiatorial pits, but it had been even harder before when they were on the streets. Sometimes glitchmice and turborats had been the only fuel around, if you could catch them and stomach eating them. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had watched other street-mechs starve and die from being too squeamish to eat mechanimals. Aside from the energon, Sideswipe was pretty sure the only reason the both of them survived long enough to join the Autobots was from the boost in metals and supplements the frames of the turborats provided. Both twins had always been a little tougher and hardier than most the other street-mechs and Sideswipe was positive it was because their frames had the extra nutrients to work with.

They walked steadily for as long as they could until Sideswipe’s limp got worse, and the exertions of the day finally got to them. Huddling against the canyon wall under a bit of overhang, they shared a half cube of energon, and tucked a tarp around themselves to protect from the wind and any possible rain. Sunstreaker was almost into recharge when Sideswipe spoke up.

“Do you think we should try to use the comms booster?”

Sunstreaker stirred, optics coming on to see the azure light of Sideswipe blinking his optics at him. He suspended recharge protocols and brought his processor activity back up enough to calculate how far they had gotten from the Decepticons. His Cybertron Positioning Signal didn’t work this far below the main surface, but his chronometer still worked and he could figure out about how far they had walked based on their strides and how many steps they had taken in the time before making camp. “No. Not yet anyway,” he said slowly. “We were going kind of slow and I think we’re too close to the Cons still. Don’t want them catching the signal before our friends.”

Sideswipe hummed in agreement, snuggling closer to Sunstreaker and resting his head on his shoulder. “I hope the booster will be strong enough to get the signal out of this canyon. I noticed my CPS isn’t working.”

“Neither is mine, but I don’t think that will matter because we’ll be broadcasting, not trying to receive anything. It doesn’t have to connect on our end to be heard on theirs,” Sunstreaker mumbled sleepily, resting his helm on Sideswipe’s, audial fin gently hooked with his brother’s horn.

Sideswipe hummed again, and both of them fell silent. They slipped into recharge.

***

The next few days brought much of the same- slow careful hiking along the canyon ledge, keeping an optic out for a way out or a place to hole up, and recharging in the safest spot they could find when they got too tired. Sideswipe’s leg got worse, Sunny’s prediction coming true as the edges of his plating began to gray out. The numbness had also caused him to trip a couple times, when he set his ped down funny on rocks he couldn’t feel, and it became scratched and dented from being hit on things when he misjudged. Sideswipe had learned the hard way that the damage to his neural net or the lack of energon or some combination of things had caused his proprioceptory sensors in his leg to cease working. He couldn’t rely on his sensors to tell him if his next step had stable, level footing or not. By the second time he fell over, Sideswipe had learned to keep his optics on the ground in front of him. Sunstreaker pinged him when his pace slowed down and frowned in concern when Sideswipe explained. After that, Sunstreaker walked at his twin’s side, rather than scouting ahead a few steps.

The fog got thicker around them. The ledge wasn’t level, it had climbed upward and descended again in random stretches, and Sideswipe worried they had been headed downward more than they had headed up. Sunstreaker had figured the up and down had pretty much evened out, until the fog got so much denser that they could barely see their own peds. Then he worried right along with Sides that they must be going deeper into the canyon.

“Alright, we need to stop and find a safe spot to stay before we walk off the side of the slagging path,” Sunstreaker grumbled. “We should be far enough away from the Cons now to set up the booster, so we can work on that until the fog clears up some and we can keep going.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sideswipe said. They had been practically crawling along, Sideswipe on the inside by the wall and Sunstreaker closer to the edge. Sideswipe had one hand trailing along the canyon wall for extra support. He nearly fell over a few steps later when his hand met nothing but air. He yelped and stumbled, only Sunstreaker’s grip on his arm keeping him from faceplanting.

“Hey Sunny, I think I might have found a cave or something,” Sideswipe said, voice chirpy with amusement as he grinned at his twin.

Sunstreaker huffed, lips twitching just a bit into a slight smile. “It is totally just like you to literally fall into or trip over what we need,” he said with fond exasperation. He propped Sideswipe up against the wall. “Stay here, I’m going to go in and check it out. I’ll keep the bond open and be back in just a klik.”

With Side’s nod of agreement, Sunny headed into the opening. After a few steps his sensors told him the moisture in the air was less dense, and he tried turning on his headlights. He blinked, optics adjusting to the sudden brightness. It was less a cave and more a narrow fissure that appeared to meet somewhere above them. Mist swirled around his pedes, but the fog hadn’t flowed into the cave. In fact, Sunny could feel the faintest breeze coming from further back in the cave somewhere, meaning there might be a way out further in. He explored a little deeper in, and found an area where the fissure-cave widened enough for he and Sideswipe to stretch out and be comfortable while recharging. Satisfied, he went back the way he came to fetch Sideswipe, then helped him walk in and get comfortable.

Camp was set up in the cave. They had made do with just a tarp while out on the exposed ledge, but now that they had some actual shelter, Sideswipe pulled out their coveted mini-space heater. It was chilly down here in the canyon, and while the tarps blocked most of the wind and chill, it would be nice to have an actual heat source to cuddle up near besides each other.

Pulling out the booster as well Sideswipe contemplated the device, while Sunstreaker fiddled with the heater and tarps making a pad to recharge on. Popping the side panel, Sideswipe poked around inside it readjusting the setting changes he had made while they were hiding from the Cons so that now it would work as it was supposed to. Which was doing as it was named and boosting any communications signal or distress beacon allowing them to be heard even through jammers, distance, or obstacles- like being stuck in a canyon in a cave who knew how many meters under the surface.

“Do you think they are looking for us?” Sideswipe asked quietly, optics on his hands as he put the side panel back on. His field and the bond were both quiet and muted. 

Sunstreaker might not have picked up on the insecurity his normally confident and lively red twin felt, except he also knew the confidence was often a front to cover the hurt and uncertainty their early upbringing had instilled in them. Sunstreaker knew, because he felt the same way as often or more than Sideswipe did- it was hard to feel wanted when your earliest memories are being left by your creator to fend for yourselves, and turned away from by everymech you ask for help. Even the Autobots, as great as they were, often made the twins feel like they had to prove themselves still and earn their keep.

Except for Jazz and Prowl. The two officers had adopted the twins practically the moment they met them. The young mechs had escaped from the gladiatorial pits and been picked up by an Autobot patrol in the upheaval time leading up to the War. Expecting to be forgotten in the brig, kicked out, or forced to work for their keep, they were both surprised and suspicious when the two black and white painted officers had fostered them. Jazz and Prowl had offering support, love, and stability with no ulterior motives, and eventually the twins came to love them back freely. Once they came of age to enlist they had, simply to stay near their adoptive creators.

“I know they are looking for us,” Sunstreaker said confidently, leaving off fussing with the tarps to go and sit next to Sideswipe and wrap an arm around him. “I know for a fact that Jazz was looking for us from the moment he saw we didn’t make it back with the retreat. He probably got our ping-code message, too, and has been harassing the Decepticons up there as soon as he got it, trying to rescue us. Pits, he’s probably scared the info out of them or hacked it and knows we ended up in the canyon, too. Not to mention, Prowl’s division should have caught up to our troops by now, and I bet he’s been scanning all the frequencies with that overgrown Tac-Net of his and neglecting his recharge trying to find us.”

Sideswipe chuckled softly. “I almost feel sorry for the Cons if Jazz really has been haunting their camps.” He leaned closer to Sunstreaker and sighed, brushing love and gratitude over his field and bond. “I got the booster sending out a message and our approximate coordinates. I tweaked it as much as I could without breaking it to increase the power and range. Hopefully it’ll reach them.”

“I was planning to head further into the cave tomorrow, do some scouting to see if there is a way out,” Sunstreaker said, nudging Sideswipe until he scooted over to lay down on the tarps. “I noticed a draft, and I think there might be another opening somewhere.” He checked Sideswipe’s leg, made sure there were no new energon leaks and that the temporary plating was still secure under the bandages, frowning at the creeping gray edges. Sighing he laid down snuggled close against Sidewipe, reaching over to pull the space heater just a tad closer. Sideswipe was already powered down in recharge, and Sunstreaker soon joined him, enjoying the much cozier warmth the cave provided.

***

Sunstreaker woke to the warm frame of his twin. A twin who was already awake and running teasing fingers suggestively over Sunstreaker’s seams. Sunstreaker wasn’t surprised. Often the first thing they did, once they were safe enough to do so, was turn to each other for comfort and reassurance. Sideswipe flashed a grin at him as soon as his optics lit up before leaning in and kissing him, nibbling at his lips.

“You sure you’re feeling up to interfacing?” Sunny asked when they paused their kisses long enough for him to say something, though he certainly hadn’t even tried to stop Sideswipe’s hands from playing so nicely over the plating on his chest and hips. In fact, his own hands were returning the favor, gold digits plucking at armor seams to send little thrumming vibrations over Sideswipe’s neural net, just the way Sideswipe liked it. Sunny was rewarded with a delightful little shimmy and moan as Sideswipe pulled Sunstreaker closer.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Sideswipe said, moving his kisses and nibbling to Sunstreaker’s audial fin, getting a lovely groan in reaction. “We’re safe enough in here to let off a little steam, and I want to have a little fun before you leave me to sit here bored and lonely while you go spelunking.”

“Gotta be careful with your leg,” Sunstreaker replied distractedly, focus more on getting even by licking one of Sideswipe’s horns and getting a moan out of him. He grinned as Sideswipe obliged him, then gave the tip of the horn a little nip, getting a little squeak as a bonus.

“I know,” Sideswipe said, gently tweaking a wire under Sunny’s arm to get a yelp and a helpless giggle. Sunny shoved Side’s hand back down, pressing it to his hips with a mock glare. (Sunny always had been ticklish along his underarm seams and wires. A closely guarded secret only his family knew.) Sideswipe gladly went back to feeling up Sunstreaker’s shapely waist and aft, pulling him more on top as he rolled on to his back. “But you know I don’t like having nothing to do.” _Don’t like you going without me_ , he added over their bond as he sucked on Sunstreaker’s neck cables. They both widened the bond completely, to let the sensations of their frames echo over and multiply between them. He let Sunstreaker’s legs slot in between his own and rocked his hips up.

They shifted their panels open, arrays rubbing and sliding against each other in a thoroughly pleasant way. Sunstreaker got a hand between them as their spikes pressurized, and palmed both their spikes, giving them a satisfying squeeze. He stroked them a few times before sliding his hand further down to circle a finger around the entrance of Sideswipe’s valve. He teased him, spreading slick lubricant around and up over the bright node then lightly rubbed it. He waited until Sideswipe whined for more, twisting his hips to try and get more pressure, before leaving it to pull Sideswipe’s leg around his waist.

Sideswipe’s sound of disappointment when the finger left his node shifted into a cry of pleasure as Sunstreaker smoothly hilted himself into Sideswipe’s valve. Sideswipe pushed up, trying to get that gloriously ridged spike deeper.

They rocked together, cries of pleasure and the ringing sounds of their plating sliding together echoing around the cave. Sunstreaker hitched Sideswipe’s leg a little higher, changing his angle just enough and thrust harder.

Sideswipe cried out as his node was pressed against Sunstreaker’s spike housing, while the new angle meant it felt like the ridges of the spike itself lined up with all the nodes in his valve. He loved it when Sunny found that particular angle, it always felt like heavy warm pressure and ecstasy radiating slowly from his valve until it reached his spark. And when it hit his spark the exquisite pleasure burst out, sending him crashing into an intense overload. Calling out “Sunny!” as he overloaded, the rebound in his spark and the clenching of his valve took Sunstreaker into overload too.

Muffling his cry into Sideswipe’s shoulder, Sunstreaker ground deep as he came. He held himself tense over Sideswipe’s frame as they both came down from their climax, then slowly relaxed until he was laying on top of Sideswipe fully. Sideswipe kept his arms and legs wrapped around Sunny for a long moment needed the grounding weight and closeness of his twin, before releasing him and letting his legs fall back down to the tarp-covered floor.

Sunstreaker nuzzled Sideswipe before gently rolling off to lay beside him. Digging around in his subspace he produced a clean cloth which he used to wipe himself and Sides clean before they closed their plating back up. Resting just a bit more before rolling into a sitting position, he pulled out an energon cube and nudged Sideswipe to sit up as well. They shared half the cube before resealing it and putting it away.

Sunstreaker leaned over and gave Sideswipe a kiss before standing and stretching. “I’ll keep the bond open,” he said, as he fluffed and reset his armor. “That way you can talk my audial off when you get bored in five minutes, and I can let you know if I find anything.” Sunny grinned and stepped out of reach as Sideswipe growled and took a playful swipe at him. 

“You better be back before it’s time to recharge or I will come find you,” Sideswipe warned. “Hey, just in case, take this with you.” He rummaged around in his subspace until with a triumphant noise he pulled out a little spray tube of fluorescent green paint. “I was gonna use this for a prank but you can use it to mark your way, so you don’t get lost if this cave has a bunch of twists and turns or something.” He tossed the tube to Sunstreaker.

“Good idea,” Sunstreaker said with a nod and tucked the tube away. One last kiss to Sideswipe’s audial horn, then he turned to the back of the cave and walked into the dark.

***

Headlights on to light his way, Sunstreaker scouted the cave. It stayed relatively straight, enough so that for a long time he could make out a faint light behind him where Sideswipe and the entrance were. He noticed a gradual incline after a while. A glance and sensor sweep upward showed the roof was still quite a ways above his head, but the gentle rise of the floor meant the ceiling was slowly getting closer. So far there had only been two branches off the main fissure-cave, and both of them had been more like cracks then tunnels, and far to narrow for a mech Sunstreaker or Sideswipe’s size to fit through. Sunstreaker was fine with that though, less chance of getting lost, or of something big and nasty creeping up on them.

The floor eventually started to rise steeper, and in some places Sunstreaker had to hoist himself up over nearly vertical spots. Luckily none were so tall he couldn’t reach the ledge to haul himself up. All the while the ceiling got closer. The cave tunnel stayed wide enough for Sunstreaker to walk through, though he had to turn his shoulders a time or two to avoid scratching his paint worse than it was. But soon the ceiling was starting to lower enough he had to stoop just slightly.

Before long it got low enough that it was easier to crawl than try to walk so stooped, and Sunstreaker vowed that if it got any lower he was just going to turn around and go back. He might not be claustrophobic, but even a grounder like him didn’t like the thought of so much of Cybertron’s plating over his head, and so little room to move. Just as he figured it was time to head back, the sound of wind blowing caught his audial. Ahead and around a slight bend he could see faint light- unnoticeable at first because of the glare from his headlights- and a fresh gust of air came from that way. Crawling forward with renewed enthusiasm, Sunstreaker rounded the curve and saw a break in the tunnel. The break opened up about a mech’s height up on a wall that looked out into a fairly large but narrow cavern that had a huge hole in the stalactite covered ceiling. The cavern floor was mostly covered in a huge puddle of what looked to be acid rain runoff, which is probably what cause the hole in the cavern to begin with. Sunstreaker wasn’t thinking about the acid puddle though, he was too busy looking to see if there was a way he and Sideswipe could make it up to the hole and get out of here. Or at the very least move their camp to this cavern.

Looking at the marks showing the highest the puddle got after being flooded with rain and seeing plenty of little ridges and flat areas safely above the acid marks, Sunstreaker figured it would be safe enough to move in here. There were a few shiny rocks that had fallen from the ceiling around the floor under the hole, but all other rocks on the cave floor were well oxidized and patinaed showing they had been there for a while. If they stayed away from the area under the hole then they should be fairly safe from falling rocks. Not only that, but since this cave was much closer to the surface they could get a much better read on where they were in relation to the base, and their signals should reach them that much easier.

Satisfied, Sunstreaker headed back to Sideswipe, telling him what he found over their bond as he went. By the time he got back it would be late, and recharging would be a good idea. He and Sideswipe could make their way to this new cave when they woke.

***

The walk through the tunnels took longer for the both of them then either thought it would. Sideswipe’s leg had gotten a lot worse while they recharged. The gray had spread over most of his lower leg, and the day of inactivity had caused his knee joint to stiffen up. The gears in it ground terribly now when he tried to bend it. It made crawling the last stretch of the tunnel especially difficult and painful for the red mech. 

“Slag Sunny, if we don’t get back to base soon, the medics are gonna have to replace my whole leg from the knee down,” Sideswipe groaned, as Sunstreaker helped him down out of the tunnel and into the cavern. “I hate having to integrate new parts, it always throws off my balance and coordination. They never get the size exactly right the first time, I swear to Primus, and they always have to make a dozen adjustments before it feels right. And syncing new circuitry into my neural net always aches for orns and orns!”

Sunstreaker tuned out his brother’s complaints as he steered him towards the highest and sturdiest looking ledge he could see. It looked like a huge stalagmite that had fallen in the distant past, leaving a large roundish platform near the right-hand wall of the cavern. The stump was big enough for the two of them to recharge on with room to set the space heater without running the risk of hitting it and sending it falling into the acid puddle. Not that that was likely, since the stump was about as far from the puddle as they could get.

They set up their tarps again with the heater and the booster nearby and sending out its message. It was a little cooler in this cavern than the other cave, since the wind could blow in easily through the natural skylight. Sunstreaker wanted to go see if there was a means of climbing out, but he and Sideswipe were tired from their crawl through the tunnel. Especially Sideswipe. Sunstreaker could tell the pain and awkwardness of trying to move around with his leg was fatiguing Sideswipe. They could check for easy ways to get out of the cavern after energon and rest.

Energon was starting to become a concern though. They had been out here for nearly fifteen cycles, and between the two of them they had twenty cubes of energon. The twins had a habit of keeping at least ten cubes on them at all times, and it had saved their afts more than once. They still had about half their supply since they had already begun rationing what was left, and could cut it down further to only drinking a quarter cube to stretch it out, but even then it wouldn’t last long. And with no signs of glitchmice or turborats, there didn’t look to be any possibility of supplementing their supply.

Sunstreaker sighed and finished his portion of the cube, then put it away and snuggled up with Sideswipe. Sideswipe shifted against him until he could find a comfortable position for his leg, then swiftly fell into recharge. Sunstreaker pulled a bit of extra tarp over them for extra warmth and followed him down.

***

The next few days proved they wouldn’t be climbing out of here on their own, but the faint crackle of noise they could hear over their comms meant that their signal was definitely being heard. They just had to wait now. Sideswipe amused himself throwing things into the acid pool and timing how long it took them to dissolve, and enticing Sunstreaker to interface. Sunstreaker interfaced Sideswipe, and etched designs into palm sized rocks that he carefully chose from those littering the cavern floor, using an empty energon cube full of acid from the pool and small glass dipping rod he mysteriously had in his subspace. 

It was peaceful, aside from the undertone of worry. If not for the situation with Sideswipe’s leg and their energon, the two of them might have really enjoyed their unplanned caving adventure-vacation.

On the fourth day in the cavern and down to their last two cubes of energon, they heard voices. Immediately both stood up, audials straining to listen. Sunstreaker opened his comms, and could just make out chatter, though the thick metal walls of the cavern seemed to be blocking and scattering the signal some.

Sideswipe had his own idea of how to get their attention and let out a piercing whistle. Sunstreaker cringed away from him, and lowered the gain on his audials from where they had been turned up to max. Good thing he did because Sideswipe whistled again, this time in the ping-pattern for ‘here’. 

While Sideswipe continued whistling, Sunstreaker dug in their first aid kit for the smoke flare. The bright red smoke was a clear sign calling for immediate pick-up, and the smoke should drift up out of the hole nicely to let their rescuers know where to look. He activated the flare and set it under the hole where it billowed up and out just like he wanted.

The sound of the voices and activity rose, and quickly got closer. It wasn’t more than a few minutes before figures were silhouetted against the sky, standing around the edge of the hole and looking in with bright reassuringly blue optics. One figure had a familiar blue visor. The twins waved at their rescuers, flashing their headlights. The mech at the hole flashed theirs back in confirmation, then turned to put on a magnetic harness.

The twins hurriedly packed their camp away, Sunstreaker stuffing his rock collection into subspace as well. There were some mechs he liked well enough that might enjoy getting one, and they had given him some ideas for future etching projects. By the time they were ready, Jazz was half way down from the ceiling, repelling down a wench cable.

They waited for him where he would touch down. Jazz reached the bottom and unhooked his cable. Once free he turned and practically leaped at the twins with a cry of “My bitlets!” As soon as he was close enough he pulled them into a hug, which they happily returned.

“I was worried about you two, Prowl too when he caught up to us and learned you had been missing,” Jazz said, leaning back enough to look them up and down. “Looks like you managed to get away alright though.” His visor flashed as he spotted Sideswipe’s mostly gray ped, and his brow ridge furrowed. “Well, mostly alright, I hope.”

“Yeah, we’re good, Jazz,” Sideswipe said with another squeeze for his adopted creator. “Basically just my leg. We’re a little bit hungry too, but that’s easy enough to fix as soon as we get out of here.”

Jazz nodded and started helping Sideswipe into a magnetic harness.

“Is Prowl waiting back at the base?” Sunstreaker asked as Jazz as he took the harness held out to him and started to put it on.

“Nope, he’s waiting topside,” Jazz answered, grinning at the way they both perked up at that.

Sideswipe was hooked up first and hoisted up. Then the cable was lowered again and it was Sunstreaker’s turn. A very familiar door-winged mech was standing with Sideswipe, waiting for him at the top, hand ready to help him up over the edge. Prowl pulled him into a hug as soon as he was standing. It was brief but sparkfelt, since they had to get the cable off Sunstreaker to send back down to Jazz.

Once Jazz was up, and the gear was stowed, they were ready to go. The medic had hustled Sideswipe onto a hoversled and was already fussing over him, scanning the leg and prying up the patches to see what needed fixed. The rest of them followed the hoversled onto the nearby waiting transport. They sat in the chairs closest to where the medic had parked Sideswipe, and Prowl reached over to hold Sideswipe’s hand as the medic worked.

“I am glad you are both safe,” Prowl said, giving Sideswipe’s hand a squeeze and looking at Sunstreaker beside him.

Sunstreaker leaned against Prowl slightly, while Jazz took his hand on his other side and rested his helm against his shoulder. “Yeah. It actually wasn’t too bad once we got away from the Cons.”

“Yeah!” Chimed in Sideswipe, “And it was my idea that got us away from them!”

“Your crazy idea that got us lost over the edge of a canyon you mean!” Sunstreaker retorted with a huff.

“How about you tell us what happened?” Prowl cut in before Sideswipe could make a comeback.

“Yes, tell us what went down after the battle, bitlets!” Jazz demanded, nudging Sunstreaker’s shoulder with his.

“Alright,” Sideswipe said, “ So, we got stuck behind Decepticon line…”

**The End**.


End file.
